UPSC History Syllabus PDF Download: UPSC Mains History Optional Syllabus

UPSC Syllabus for History Optional Paper 1

Topics of the Syllabus of History Optional for UPSC

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Archaeological sources

Exploration, excavation, epigraphy, numismatics, and monuments

Literary sources

Indigenous: Primary and secondary; poetry; scientific literature; literature in regional languages; religious literature.

Foreign accounts: Greek, Chinese, and Arab writers

Pre-history and Proto-history

Geographical factors; hunting and gathering (palaeolithic and mesolithic); Beginning of agriculture (neolithic and chalcolithic).

Indus Valley Civilization

Origin, date, extent, characteristics-decline, survival, and significance

art and architecture

Megalithic Cultures

Distribution of pastoral and farming cultures outside the Indus,

Development of community life, Settlements, agriculture, Crafts, Pottery, and Iron industry.

Aryans and Vedic Period

Expansions of Aryans in India

Vedic Period: Religious and philosophical literature

The transformation from the Rig Vedic period to the later Vedic period;

Political, social and economic life;

Significance of the Vedic Age

Evolution of Monarchy and the Varna system.

Period of Mahajanapadas

Formation of States (Mahajanapada): Republics and monarchies; Rise of urban centres; Trade routes; Economic growth; Introduction of coinage; Spread of Jainism and Buddhism; Rise of Magadha and Nandas.

Iranian and Macedonian invasions and their impact.

Mauryan Empire

Foundation of the Mauryan Empire,

Chandragupta, Kautilya and Arthashastra;

Ashoka; Concept of Dharma; Edicts;

Polity, Administration, Economy;

Art, architecture and sculpture;

External contacts;

Religion; Spread of religion;

Literature.

The disintegration of the empire;

Sungas and Kanvas.

Post-Mauryan Period (Indo-Greeks, Sakas, Kushanas, Western Kshatrapas)

Contact with the outside world;

Growth of urban centres, economy, coinage, development of religions, Mahayana, social conditions, art, architecture, culture, literature and science.

Early State and Society in Eastern India, Deccan and South India (Kharavela, The Satavahanas, Tamil States of the Sangam Age):

Administration, Economy, land grants, coinage, trade guilds and urban centres;

Buddhist centres;

Sangam literature and culture;

Art and architecture.

Guptas, Vakatakas and Vardhanas

Polity and administration, Economic conditions, Coinage of the Guptas, Land grants, Decline of urban centres, Indian feudalism, Caste system, Position of women, Education and educational institutions; Nalanda, Vikramshila and Vallabhi, Literature, scientific literature, art and architecture.

Regional States during Gupta Era

The Kadambas, Pallavas, and Chalukyas of Badami; Polity and Administration, Trade guilds, Literature; growth of Vaishnava and Saiva religions.

Tamil Bhakti movement, Shankaracharya, Vedanta;

Institutions of temple and temple architecture;

Palas, Senas, Rashtrakutas, Paramaras, Polity and administration; Cultural aspects.

Arab conquest of Sind; Alberuni;

The Chalukyas of Kalyani, Cholas, Hoysalas, and Pandyas: Polity and Administration; Local Government; Growth of art and architecture, religious sects, Institution of temples and Mathas, Agraharas, education and literature, economy, and society.

Themes in Early Indian Cultural History

Languages and texts, major stages in the evolution of art and architecture, major philosophical thinkers and schools, ideas in Science and Mathematics

Early Medieval India, 750-1200

Polity: Major political developments in Northern India and the peninsula, origin and the rise of Rajputs.

The Cholas: administration, village economy, and society “Indian Feudalism”.

Agrarian economies and urban settlements

Trade and commerce.

Society: the status of the Brahman and the new social order

Condition of women.

Indian science and technology.

Cultural Traditions in India, 750-1200

Philosophy: Shankaracharya and Vedanta, Ramanuja and Vishishtadvaita, Madhva and BrahmaMimansa.

Religion: Forms and features of religion, Tamil devotional cult, growth of Bhakti, Islam and its arrival in India, Sufism.

Literature: Literature in Sanskrit, growth of Tamil literature, literature in the newly developing languages, Kalhan's Rajtarangini, Alberuni's India.

Art and Architecture: Temple architecture, sculpture, painting.

The Thirteenth Century

Establishment of the Delhi Sultanate: The Ghurian invasions - factors behind Ghurian Success

Economic, social, and cultural consequences.

Foundation of Delhi Sultanate and early Turkish Sultans.

Consolidation: The Rule of Iltutmish and Balban

The Fourteenth Century

“The Khalji Revolution”.

Alauddin Khalji: Conquests and territorial expansion, agrarian and economic measures

Muhammad Tughluq: Major projects, agrarian measures, and the bureaucracy of Muhammad Tughluq.

Firuz Tugluq: Agrarian measures, achievements in civil engineering and public works, decline of the Sultanate, foreign contacts, and Ibn Battuta's account.

Society, Culture, and Economy in the Thirteenth and Fourteenth Centuries

Society: composition of rural society, ruling classes, town dwellers, women, religious classes, caste and slavery under the Sultanate, Bhakti movement, and Sufi movement.

Culture: Persian literature, literature in the regional languages of North India, literature in the languages of South India, Sultanate architecture and new structural forms, painting, the evolution of a composite culture

Economy: Agricultural Production, the rise of the urban economy, non-agricultural production, trade, and commerce

The Fifteenth and Early Sixteenth Century-Political Developments and Economy

Rise of Provincial Dynasties: Bengal, Kashmir (Zainul Abedin), Gujarat.

Malwa, Bahmanids.

The Vijayanagara Empire

Lodis.

Mughal Empire, first phase: Babur, Humayun

The Sur Empire: Sher Shah’s administration

Portuguese colonial enterprise, Bhakti, and Sufi movements

The Fifteenth and Early Sixteenth Century- Society and Culture

Regional cultural specificities

Literary traditions.

Provincial architecture.

Society, culture, literature, and the arts in Vijayanagara Empire

Akbar

Conquests and consolidation of empire

Establishment of Jagir and Mansab systems

Rajput policy.

Evolution of religious and social outlook

Theory of Sulh-i-kul and religious policy

Court patronage of art and technology

Mughal Empire in the Seventeenth Century

Major administrative policies of Jahangir, Shahjahan, and Aurangzeb

The Empire and the Zamindars.

Religious policies of Jahangir, Shahjahan, and Aurangzeb

Nature of the Mughal State.

Late Seventeenth Century crisis and the revolts

The Ahom kingdom.

Shivaji and the early Maratha Kingdom

Economy and Society in the 16th and 17th Centuries

Population, agricultural, and craft production.

Towns, commerce with Europe through Dutch, English and French companies: a trade revolution.

Indian mercantile classes. Banking, insurance and credit systems.

Conditions of peasants, Conditions of Women.

Evolution of the Sikh community and the Khalsa Panth.

Culture during Mughal Empire

Persian histories and other literature.

Hindi and religious literature

Mughal architecture.

Mughal painting.

Provincial architecture and painting.

Classical music.

Science and technology.

The Eighteenth Century

Factors for the Decline of the Mughal Empire

The regional principalities: Nizam’s Deccan, Bengal, and Awadh

Maratha ascendancy under the Peshwas.

The Maratha fiscal and financial system.

Emergence of Afghan Power, Battle of Panipat, 1761.

State of-political, cultural, and economic—on the eve of the British conquest.

History Optional Syllabus for UPSC Paper 2

Topics of the History UPSC Optional Syllabus

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European Penetration into India

The Early European Settlements;

The Portuguese and the Dutch;

The English and French East India Companies, their struggle for supremacy; Carnatic Wars;

Bengal-The conflict between the English and the Nawabs of Bengal; Siraj and the English; The Battle of Plassey; Significance of Plassey

British Expansion in India

Bengal-Mir Jafar and Mir Kasim; The Battle of Buxar;

Mysore;

The Marathas, The three Anglo-Maratha Wars;

Punjab.

Early Structure of the British Raj

The Early administrative structure; From diarchy to direct Control

The Regulating Act (1773);

The Pitt's India Act (1784);

The Charter Act (1833);

The Voice of free trade and the changing character of British colonial rule;

The English utilitarian and India.

Economic Impact of British Colonial Rule

Land revenue settlements in British India;

The Permanent Settlement, Ryotwari Settlement, Mahalwari Settlement;

The economic impact of the revenue arrangements;

Commercialisation of agriculture;

Rise of landless agrarian labourers;

The impoverishment of rural society.

Dislocation of traditional trade and commerce;

De-industrialisation; Decline of traditional crafts;

Drain of wealth;

The economic transformation of India; Railroad and communication network, including telegraph and postal services;

Famine and poverty in the rural interior;

European business enterprise and its limitations.

Social and Cultural Developments

The state of indigenous education, its dislocation;

Orientalist-Anglicist controversy,

The introduction of Western education in India;

The rise of press, literature and public opinion; The rise of modern vernacular literature;

Progress of Science;

Christian missionary activities in India.

Social and Religious Reform Movements in Bengal and Other Areas

Ram Mohan Roy, The Brahmo Movement;

Devendranath Tagore;

Iswarchandra Vidyasagar;

The Young Bengal Movement;

Dayanada Saraswati;

The social reform movements in India, including Sati, widow remarriage, child marriage etc.;

The contribution of the Indian Renaissance to the growth of modern India;

Islamic revivalism-the Feraizi and Wahabi Movements.

Indian Response to British Rule

Peasant movement and tribal uprisings in the 18th and 19th centuries, including the Rangpur Dhing (1783), the Kol Rebellion (1832), the Mopla Rebellion in Malabar (1841-1920), the Santal Hul (1855), Indigo Rebellion (1859-60), Deccan Uprising (1875) and the Munda Ulgulan (1899-1900);

The Great Revolt of 1857 - Origin, character, causes of failure, the consequences;

The shift in the character of peasant uprisings in the post-1857 period; the peasant movements of the 1920s and 1930s.

Factors leading to the birth of Indian Nationalism

Politics of Association;

The Foundation of the Indian National Congress;

The Safety-valve thesis relating to the birth of the Congress;

Programme and objectives of Early Congress; the social composition of early Congress leadership; the Moderates and Extremists;

The Partition of Bengal (1905);

The Swadeshi Movement in Bengal; the economic and political aspects of Swadeshi Movement;

The beginning of revolutionary extremism in India.

Rise of Gandhi

The character of Gandhian nationalism; Gandhi's popular appeal;

Rowlatt Satyagraha; the Khilafat Movement; the Non-cooperation Movement;

National politics from the end of the Non-cooperation movement to the beginning of the Civil Disobedience Movement; the two phases of the Civil Disobedience Movement;

Simon Commission;

The Nehru Report; the Round Table Conferences;

Nationalism and the Peasant Movements;

Nationalism and Working class movements;

Women and Indian youth and students in Indian politics (1885-1947); the election of 1937 and the formation of ministries;

Cripps Mission; the Quit India Movement; the Wavell Plan;

The Cabinet Mission.

Constitutional Developments in Colonial India

Constitutional Developments in Colonial India between 1858 and 1935

Other strands in the National Movement

The Revolutionaries: Bengal, the Punjab, Maharashtra, U.P. the Madras Presidency, Outside India.

The Left; The Left within the Congress: Jawaharlal Nehru, Subhas Chandra Bose, the Congress Socialist Party; the Communist Party of India, other left parties.

Politics of Separatism; the Muslim League; the Hindu Mahasabha

Communalism and the politics of partition;

Transfer of power; Independence.

Consolidation as a Nation

Nehru's Foreign Policy;

India and her neighbours (1947-1964);

The linguistic reorganisation of States (1935-1947);

Regionalism and regional inequality;

Integration of Princely States;

Princes in electoral politics; the Question of National Language.

Caste and Ethnicity after 1947

Backward Castes and Tribes in post-colonial electoral politics;

Dalit movements.

Economic development and political change

Land reforms; the politics of planning and rural reconstruction;

Ecology and environmental policy in post-colonial India;

Progress of Science.

Enlightenment and Modern Ideas

Major Ideas of Enlightenment: Kant, Rousseau.

Spread of Enlightenment in the colonies.

Rise of socialist ideas (up to Marx); spread of Marxian Socialism.

Origins of Modern Politics

European States System.

American Revolution and the Constitution.

French Revolution and Aftermath, 1789-1815.

American Civil War with reference to Abraham Lincoln and the abolition of slavery.

British Democratic politics.

1815-1850: Parliamentary Reformers, Free Traders, and Chartists.

Industrialisation

English Industrial Revolution: Causes and Impact on Society.

Industrialisation in other countries: USA, Germany, Russia, Japan.

Industrialisation and Globalization.

Nation-State System

Rise of Nationalism in the 19th Century.

Nationalism: State-building in Germany and Italy.

The disintegration of Empires in the face of the emergence of nationalities across the World.

Imperialism and Colonialism

South and South-East Asia.

Latin America and South Africa.

Australia.

Imperialism and free trade: Rise of neo-imperialism.

Revolution and Counter-Revolution

19th Century European revolutions.

The Russian Revolution of 1917-1921.

Fascist Counter-Revolution, Italy and Germany.

The Chinese Revolution of 1949.

World Wars

1st and 2nd World Wars as Total Wars: Societal Implications

World War I: Causes and Consequences.

World War II: Causes and Consequences.

The World after World War II

The emergence of Two power blocs.

The emergence of Third World and non-alignment.

UNO and the global disputes.

Liberation from Colonial Rule

Latin America-Bolivar.

Arab World-Egypt.

Africa-Apartheid to Democracy.

South-East Asia-Vietnam.

Decolonization and Underdevelopment

Factors constraining Development; Latin America, Africa.

Unification of Europe

Post-War Foundations; NATO and European Community.

Consolidation and Expansion of the European Community

European Union.

The Disintegration of the Soviet Union and the Rise of the Unipolar World

Factors leading to the collapse of Soviet Communism and the Soviet Union, 1985-1991.

Political Changes in East Europe (1989-2001).

End of the Cold War and US Ascendancy in the World as the lone superpower.